1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to portable collapsible tent type shelters and more particularly to umbrella type tents that do not require a central support pole.
2. Prior Art
Tent type structures involving flexible material formed into a cover and supported over a rigid frame have, of course, long been in use as portable tent type structures. In recent times, separately erected frame structures that receive, after erection, a flexible material formed into a cover and fitted and secured thereover have been replaced by integral tent frame and covering arrangements. One such arrangement is an umbrella tent that comprises a tent covering that is mounted to a center tent pole and is held in an extended attitude by poles that are pivoted outwardly from pivot points that are at or near the top of the center pole. With such tents, the center tent pole has the disadvantage of reducing the useable floor area within the erected tent, and the erection of such tent has generally required an appreciable amount of time.
Recently, a number of single unit tent arrangements have been developed that are more readily erected and collapsed, and including tent poles formed from telescoping sections for arrangement in sleeves that are formed in the tent material itself. Nevertheless such tents have required a considerable amount of time for assembling the tent poles and the erection of the tent. A single unit umbrella tent by Watts, U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,054, is an attempt to incorporate the advantages of an umbrella tent without the hindrance of a ground engaging center pole. The Watts tent also includes telescoping tent poles that extend from around a pole hub. The tent unit of the Watts patent is further capable of being broken down by disconnecting the individual poles into sections to form a small compact bundle for transport and is conveniently erectable as a unit at a site. The Watts tent, however, suffers from a number of deficiencies that the present invention improves upon including: a failure of the tent poles and rib of the Watts tent to regularly travel in a straight vertical line during tent erection often resulting in a collapse of tent poles toward one another during their outward bowing; a failure of tent material loops to slide properly along the tent poles during erection, causing tent material bunching and tearing; and a failure to reliably mount tent pole foot ends to the tent bottom, resulting in the bowed tent pole foot end tearing away from the tent material bottom portion. Like the Watts tent, the present invention employs a short inverted center pole or erecting rod that extends upwardly from the tent apex and is arranged to slide in a pole hub or crown sleeve to a top end of which rod, the hub or crown pivotally connecting to tent poles. The pivot connection of the tent poles of the invention, however, is a ball with shoulders or a cylinder with seat arrangement that stabilizes the tent pole path of travel to an extended attitude. Also distinct to the invention is a clevis type pivot coupling for joining each rib end to a point along a tent pole, the clevis type coupling for preventing a canting of the rib to the tent pole during erection. The unique pivot coupling and clevis connection of the invention prohibiting tent frame collapse that is prevalent utilizing the tent of the Watts patent. Further unique to the invention over the Watts tent are tent covering material pole slide arrangements that are each for mounting to a loop that extends from spaced point along the surface of the tent material, aligning with a tent pole the individual slides of the invention are arranged to slide freely along a tent pole during tent erection to allow the tent covering material to reposition itself as it is stretch from a loose to taut state across the tent frame. The above features along with an improved arrangement of collapsing tent poles and their mounts to web strap extensions from the tent floor provide an improved inverse umbrella tent of the invention that is both easy to erect and can be easily broken down to a compact bundle for storage and transport.